“We Come Together Stronger”: Black Greek Organizations Are Showing Up for Raphael Warnock
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris campaigns with Democratic Senate candidate the Rev. Raphael Warnock in Georgia.Ben Gray/AP Let our journalists help you make sense of the noise: Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter and get a recap of news that matters.At events and rallies for the Reverend Raphael Warnock, there are a few constants: a…
Pharoahe Monch’s “Fight” Takes a Torch to the Moving Targets of American History
Let our journalists help you make sense of the noise: Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter and get a recap of news that matters.On the morning after media outlets reported that Joe Biden had won the 2020 election, Pharoahe Monch tweeted a parting message to the dearly departing 45th president: “SIMON SAYS! GTF(OUT)!” The…
Banjo Player Jake Blount Challenges Genres and Questions Historical Narratives in “Spider Tales”
Let our journalists help you make sense of the noise: Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter and get a recap of news that matters.For nearly a century, the musicians playing and promoting old-time string band and bluegrass music have tended to be white. That’s not merely a cultural trend, explains Jake Blount, a Black…
Jake Blount’s “Spider Tales” Spins a Web of American History, Black Identity, and Banjo
Michelle Lotker Let our journalists help you make sense of the noise: Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter and get a recap of news that matters.Banjo player and fiddler Jake Blount likes to mess with his audiences: He’ll swap the pronouns in the lyrics of the old-time tunes he covers. He does it with…
A Black Professor’s Colleague Called the Cops on Him. What the School Did Next Made it Much Worse.
Let our journalists help you make sense of the noise: Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter and get a recap of news that matters.It’s a habit of David Moore’s, dropping profound quotations into conversation—sometimes it’s the Bible; sometimes it’s the Dhammapada, a Buddhist text. On this particular day, he’s referencing Malcolm X. “Equality is…
Hundreds of Black People Are in Prison for Life Even Though Jurors Thought They Were Innocent
Roderick Vidau with two of his childrenCourtesy of Vidau’s attorney Let our journalists help you make sense of the noise: Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter and get a recap of news that matters.Roderick Vidau didn’t think the jury would convict him. In 2005, when Vidau was 28 years old, a police officer in…